I'm not sure what your plans are for this weekend, but I think you should stop whatever it is you're doing or plan to do and go to drag brunch. It's really the best possible way to start or end your weekend. How do I know? I went to drag brunch on Sunday and it was glorious. It was the absolutely perfect way to start my staycation and welcome my best friend, Kelly, back to DC.
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| They were celebrating the daughter's 21st birthday and mom got a forehead smooch from Miss India. I sent them this photo because it's amazing. |
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| Looking fabulous in Adams Morgan. |
We went to drag brunch at Perry's in Adams Morgan. Perry's is a very popular Japanese restaurant in the area and is host to DC's longest running drag brunch. The show has been going on for 30 years, and was featured in Washingtonian's Pride Guide again this year. Whenever Kelly plans a trip to Virginia, I start sending her ideas for things we can do while she's here, and drag brunch was an early contender. I'm so glad we went. It was such a joyous and fun show, and the queens were so great to watch. I haven't been to a drag show in a long time, and I forget just how much energy and joy is packed into a performance. And the shade! It's just wonderful. So, get yourself to drag brunch. I'll go with you if you need company.
While in Adams Morgan, we also went to visit Miss Pixie's, which moved across the street from Perry's from the larger store on 14th Street. If you've never been to Miss Pixie's, you definitely need to visit before the end of the year. Pixie Windsor, the store's owner, announced her retirement earlier this year. The store will most likely close by the end of this year. I've been to Miss Pixie's before and it's such a fun store. Kelly found the most random and wonderful item and I found more vintage ceramic cats (more on both of these later).
This entire day was a great start to this week's stitch journal and fortune. It was a one fortune week, and I appreciated that as we had things to do each day. I like this week's fortune. Predictive fortunes are the most common type I've seen. They keep me guessing throughout my time stitching them. Were the vintage cats the thing? Maybe it was the Caitlin Doughty book I bought. No, it was definitely tiny, plastic jellyfish I bought at Blick. I just don't know.
Here's this week's fortune and lucky numbers.
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| August 3 |
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| August 4 - when I embroider lines of text, I like to move to the next line out of order so that I can use one strand of thread. I haven't done that as much with this project, but decided to this week. |
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| August 5 |
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| August 6 |
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| August 7 - this ended up being a two strands week. I had to start a new thread to finish. |
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| August 8 |
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| August 9 |
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| Weeks 1-32 - it's an even numbered week, so it's also time to move the fabric. There are 20 weeks left for this project and 35 fortunes still need to be stitched. Will they all fit? |
WIPs, Finished Projects, and Other Small Joys
This entire week was one joy after another. I love when Kelly comes to visit. We have fun doing stuff around town, but also watching movies and talking. We watched several movies from 90s this week, and ate all the good food. We also had some dedicated arts/crafts time. Kelly worked on her knitting and I decided to try a kit from DMC I purchased recently.
The kit features their newest line of thread,
Eco Vita. This thread is naturally dyed wool thread that can be used in lots of different types of needlework. I bought
this kit so I could try the thread since it's not as readily available in stores near me. Eco Vita thread is a single strand thread; I would say one strand is similar to 3-4 strands of regular embroidery floss. It took a little getting used to using, but overall, it's a great product and the end result is lovely. I have a mild wool allergy, but didn't have any issues with using the thread (I take allergy meds before I work with wool thread or yarn). Next time I go to the needlework store near my house, I'm going to see if they carry Eco Vita and try it on some other types of fabric. That was the only negative for me - I didn't like the linen fabric that came with the kit. It was similar in weave to Aida fabric, and I dislike using Aida fabric for embroidery.
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| The finished hoop - I finally used my hoop frame from Modern Hoopla. They're having a sale now if you want to grab one of their beautiful frames. |
And yes, you did see the vintage travel case in one of the photos. She made her debut this week on a little winery and making art in public day. We took a drive out to
Firefly Cellars and enjoyed some cheese and day drinking while working on our respective projects. The tasting room staff loved the case. I was able to fit three WIPs in 5 of 6 inch hoops, thread, scissors, and a small notions bag. I can't wait to take her out again!
I did a little more on the abstract piece I started to test out new threads, but didn't make a ton of progress. I like to think of projects like this as my "re-watch early seasons of Project Runway" binges. They're fun little breaks and eventually I'll finish it.
I still haven't figured out if vintage ceramic cats follow me around the various thrift and vintage shops in the area or if I'm just really good at finding them. I spotted the spaghetti cats at Miss Pixie's before drag brunch and went back after brunch to buy them.
Look at them! Spaghetti cats (and poodles) are so called because of the texture of their fur. These were popular in the post World War II period, popularized by American soldiers bringing them home to the US. The original spaghetti cats were made in Italy, and later versions came from Japan. Mine is from Japan. I didn't know they were called spaghetti cats until I looked up the item after I bought it. They're so freaking cute. Kelly thinks I need to find a spaghetti poodle to round out my collection. We'll see. For now, they're living on the shelf of the side table I moved to the entry way of my house. That's not their permanent home, but it's where I have space for them now. I need a new bookcase but haven't one yet. Once I do, they'll move to the bookcase.
Kelly also found a fantastic item at Miss Pixie's - a metal box used by funeral homes to store the deceased's personal effects.
As far as I know, funeral homes don't use these types of storage boxes anymore. This was a trend in the 1930s through the 1970s (maybe earlier, maybe later). I also saw some online from insurance companies for use in storing important paperwork in the home. Most of those are from the 1930s. It's such a wonderful and weird find. Kelly is going to use it as a mobile painting storage case. I'm excited to see how it looks and works for her.
I'm spending my weekend doing as little as possible to ease myself back to work next week. I'm enjoying my latest Halloween mug, going to see my parents (they were in Michigan last week), and I think I'm going to start working on one of my Goodwill paintings. I mean, I bought tiny, plastic jellyfish for it so I really need to get started.
I hope you enjoy something this weekend as much as I'm enjoying my new mug. Sparkly ghost cats are my jam.
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